J.D. Salinger Has Died; Wrote 'Catcher in the Rye'

Breaking news:

CORNISH, N.H. (AP) -- Son says J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, has died at age 91.

Update at 1:22 p.m. ET: NPR News has confirmed the death with Salinger's literary agent.

Update at 1:12 p.m. ET. The AP now writes that:

Salinger in 1951. (AP file)

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose The Catcher in the Rye shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died.

He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative.

He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

The Catcher in the Rye, with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made Catcher a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight -- and concern."

Two years ago, All Things Considered aired this look at the effect of Catcher in the Rye on generations of teenagers: